Engineering Physics Annotation << Back Theoretical Limits of Object Detection in Scattering Media Using Pulsed and Continuous-Wave Single-Photon LiDAR Based on Superconducting Nanowire Detectors Makhlouf M., Semenov A.V., Elezov M.S., Ozhegov R.V., Goltsman G.N. This paper investigates the theoretical limits of object detection within isotropic scattering media using single-photon lidar. Within a simplified model, we derive the fundamental relationship between the maximum attainable detection range and the required photon count per pulse. Two distinct limiting regimes are analyzed: the ballistic photon regime, which maintains high spatial resolution but necessitates an exponential increase in source power with range, and the diffuse photon regime, which facilitates detection at significantly extended ranges by identifying the object’s presence at the cost of spatial detail. Our findings demonstrate that pulsed lidar provides a fundamental advantage over continuous-wave sources in the noise-limited diffuse regime-specifically by a factor related to the ratio of the scattering mean free path to the target distance-due to the efficacy of temporal gating in suppressing backscattered noise. Keywords: single-photon LiDAR, Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors (SNSPDs), scattering media, object detection, ballistic photons, diffuse photons. DOI: 10.25791/infizik.8.2026.1573 Pp. 27-39.